ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- The editor of a Kazakh magazine that was shut down by the authorities has started a hunger strike in the nation's largest city, Almaty.

Gulzhan Erghalieva, a prominent journalist who has faced pressure from law enforcement agencies for years, started the hunger strike on January 19 in the offices of her magazine Adam Bol (Be a Human) to protest its closure.

In December, an Almaty court ordered the magazine shut down for "propagating war."

That ruling came weeks after the magazine published an interview with opposition activist Aidos Sadyqov, who is currently living in exile in Ukraine. In the interview, Sadyqov lambasted Russia for its involvement in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Last year, publishing houses in Almaty refused to print the periodical, which was then called Adam Reader's, after it reported on the deadly clashes between police and protesting oil workers in the western town of Zhanaozen.